1. Field of the Invention
Surface finishing of parts or workpieces and finishing machines and apparatus for the carrying out of such surface-finishing procedure therein.
2. Prior Art
Innumerable methods for the surface finishing of parts and/or workpieces, especially with the employment of finishing media comprising loose or particulate segments, and apparatus particularly adapted for the carrying out of particular surface-finishing methods therein, have been provided since the outset of this area of technology between forty and fifty years ago. Although great strides have been made in this technology to date, certain areas leave much room for improvement. For example, in the area of vibratory finishing methods and apparatus, it would be highly desirable to have an additional method whereby the action of the finished material or media upon the part or workpiece to be finished could be varied from extremely gentle to extremely harsh, depending upon the type of part or workpiece being finished and the desires of the operator. It would also be highly desirable to have available a surface finishing method wherein the type of action imparted to the part or workpiece within the finishing chamber could be subjected to wide variations and wherein the different operating modes could be effected without undue convenience. It would be especially desirable to have available a surface finishing method wherein and whereby extremely fragile parts, such as sand cores and the like, could be subjected to the action of finishing media for removal of flash, burrs, and other surface imperfections without at the same time inflicting undesired alterations in the surface characteristics and contours of the part or workpiece being finished which remove them from the area of utilizability due to departure from established specifications. It would also be highly desirable to have available such a surface-finishing method which could be rapidly and conveniently employed for a finishing cycle of extremely short duration as well as for a prolonged duration, depending upon the type of part or workpiece to be finished and the degree of surface finishing desired by the operator. It follows that it would also be highly desirable to have available a novel surface-finishing machine or apparatus particularly adapted for the carrying out of such an improved surface-finishing method therein.
Such surface-finishing method and finishing machines or apparatus particularly adapted for the carrying out of such method therein have not heretofore been available in the prior art, but are now made available by the present invention which involves novel concepts of individual bodies of finishing media located in side-by-side juxtaposition to each other and the independent importation of vibratory action thereto for purposes of attaining hitherto unattainable movement, action, orbital motion, mixtures of orbital motions, and confluence of orbital motions within the finishing method, and which moreover provides unique finishing apparatus which is especially adapted for the application of such novel concepts and the carrying out of such novel surface-finishing method therein.